Directionally selective shading control in maritime sub-tropical and temperate climates: Life cycle energy implications for office buildings

Abstract

Scheduling directionally selective shading devices to increase or decrease their level of occlusion relative to the total incoming solar radiation has the benefit of controlling solar heat gain during a variety of sky conditions and allowing more constant illuminance levels to be achieved within a building. In this study, hourly sky condition and annual solar angles were used to describe the tilt of the slats of an external directionally selective shading control for an external venetian blind on an office building in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia. The life cycle energy demand associated with this shading control was compared to a static base case with an external overhang and internal v..